Friday, August 12, 2011

Canadian Hip Hop Nostalgia

I was going to write an intro to this, but you know, I think I'm just going to let these tracks do the talking (for the most part).

I was in the donair shop across the street today, and this was playing in the background. It inspired this post, because I just remember hearing this for the first time and just being absolutely amazed at how beautiful that instrumental is. Also, this was the first appearance of K-Os! And speaking of K-Os...

Where did this go? Exit was such a great album...then he goes pop on us. He still puts out some of the better pop music on the radio, but come'on guy, you could have been on some Golden Era revival shit...

The first real Canadian "posse cut". It says its by the Rascalz, but those were all the biggest MC's at the moment. Kardinal Offical was really the only one who went anywhere...last I'd heard he was on Akon's label. Oh, and Little X directed the video. He discovered Melyssa Ford (wiki her. If you've seen a music video over the last decade, you'll know.) and has done videos for: Aaliyah, Ice Cube, R Kelly, Jay Z...and then someone who is probably the most famous MC To come out of Canada (more on him later).
There was also a Drum and Bass remix, which I would kill to have. Its not the best, but its just too gnarly.

And once again, speaking of Kardinal, here is probably his most popular song here at home. In true Jamaican style, Kardinal doesn't take himself too seriously, and you can really tell from this song. Here's another track of his, on some more reggae vibes. I'm pretty sure this is what got him signed by Akon (sadly).

And before I get to the most popular MC...I need to touch on the first MC to really make a name for himself. You've all heard his one hit, as it is a Jock-Jam/High School/Wedding dance tune. Big ups to my main man, Maestro Fresh Wes.

I could keep posting more tracks, but I think that is enough for one day. So, now we must move on to our most popular export (which is actually a tie). I am ashamed in both of these artists, and really don't know who's worse. Anyways, here we go:

Good God, why did we allow this? More importantly, why did we still allow him to do his fake Jamaican accent on Ghetto Concept's "Still Too Much"?

Number 2 on the list, is Sean Paul. Do I really have to post the videos? No? Okay good. Instead I will post a Bong-Ra remix of a really old song of his.

I wish I could find this really old video I remember seeing on Much Music years ago, where its Sean Paul and his buddies driving around the forest on Quad's, but alas, no dice.

Before I end this post, I have to give a shout out to Saukrates: The most underrated MC and producer to come from our country. He's signed to Redman's Gilla House label...but still hasn't released anything, just been on a bunch of features. If you go on youtube, and search "feat. Saukrates", way more videos come up than you'd expect, and yet we give him no love here. He was even on a Drake album...and still no one talked about it.

Look how funky, yet radio friendly this is. Why was this not killing Sean Paul on the charts? If I remember correctly, this got played for maybe two months. MAYBE.

Yes, Cadence is the man! The city he's from is only 2 hours from where I'm at. I was thinking of including him...but mostly wanted to focus on older tunes (I think the newest track on there was from '02). Maybe my next post will be about newer artists.